Gilead licenses hepatitis C drug to Cipla, Ranbaxy, 5 others

[September 15, 2014] NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc said on Monday it has licensed its hepatitis C drug to seven companies including Cipla Ltd and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd to make it available in 91 developing countries including India.

Cadila Healthcare, Mylan Laboratories Ltd, Sequent Scientific Ltd, Strides Arcolab Ltd and Hetero Drugs Ltd are the others who will now be able to make and sell the Sovaldi generic, the company said in a statement.

The companies will be allowed to set their own prices for the generic drug, and will pay a royalty on their earned sales to Gilead, it said.

Gilead's Sovaldi, chemically sofosbuvir, is hailed as a breakthrough in treating hepatitis C, but the company has come under fire over its product's $1,000-per-pill price tag in the United States.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in NEW DELHI and Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai; Editing by Sunil Nair)

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